"Low Winter Sun," an upcoming AMC drama set in Detroit, has been approved for $7.5 million in Michigan film incentives.

The cable TV series will begin production here this spring and film through the end of summer, the Michigan Film Office announced this morning.

The series will be the most substantial prime time exposure for the Motor City -- and provide the most scripted television work for local crews and performers -- since ABC's "Detroit 1-8-7." It expects to hire 245 Michigan workers with the full-time equivalent of 148 jobs.

"Low Winter Sun" is expected to spend $26.4 million in Michigan on the making of nine episodes. That's in keeping with the economic boost brought by "Detroit 1-8-7," which had estimated spending of $47.3 million in Michigan on nearly double that amount of episodes.

The "Low Winter Sun" pilot filmed in Detroit last September.

Based on a 2006 mini-series from Great Britain, "Low Winter Sun" will explore themes of crime and corruption through a storyline set amidst Detroit police officers.

It stars Mark Strong ("Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"), reprising his role from the English version, and Lennie James, who co-starred in "Jericho" and the Detroit-themed "Hung." The executive producer is Chris Mundy ("Criminal Minds"), who wrote the pilot.

The show is a co-production of Endemol Studios and AMC Studios, the same team behind AMC's Western series "Hell on Wheels."

AMC original dramas have become a game changer for basic cable. The network's "Mad Men" won the first best series Emmy for basic cable in 2008 and went on to win best drama four years in a row. The biggest ratings hit for AMC has been the apocalyptic zombie thriller "The Walking Dead."

The debut of "Low Winter Sun" has yet to be scheduled. The first season will include ten episodes.

The news is encouraging to a local film community hoping for a busier year than 2012.
“It gives a lot of our people work and provides it over the months for our members,” said Calvin Hazelbaker, business representative for IATSE Local 38, which represents many local crew jobs.

Hazelbaker said the “Low Winter Sun” team that came here to film the pilot was “very excited about working in Detroit.”

But the Detroit film industry is also concerned about last week’s budget proposal from Gov. Rick Snyder. It would drop the film incentives to $25 million — the dramatic reduction Snyder originally introduced in 2011. For fiscal 2013, a budget agreement doubled that figure to $50 million.

The “Low Winter Sun” announcement is “welcome news for Detroit for the start of a more successful year,” said producer-location manager Dave Krieger. But for growth and infrastructure to be sustained “there has to be some consistency with the incentives.”